Claire Croiza

Claire Croiza (née Conelly, or O'Connolly) was born in Paris, the daughter of an expatriate American father and an Italian mother, and as a child she excelled at piano and singing.

In 1906 she made her first appearance at La Monnaie in Brussels, as Dalila in Samson et Dalila, beginning a long association with that theatre which included the roles of Dido (Berlioz), Clytemnestra (Elektra), Erda, Carmen, Léonor (La favorite), Charlotte (Werther) and the title role in Fauré's opera Pénélope.

Although she first established herself as an operatic singer, she increasingly developed her career as a recitalist specialising in mélodies, and she undertook recital tours in numerous countries, including frequent visits to London where she was very well received.

Her pupils included Janine Micheau, Suzanne Juyol, and the baritones Jacques Jansen, Camille Maurane and Gérard Souzay.

"[2] This view was reinforced in an obituary tribute also in The Times: "Her consummate musicianship, unerring in its intuition, sensitiveness, charm and subtlety, exquisite diction and phrasing, combined with deep poetical feeling and a restrained but profoundly moving dramatic sense allied to an unusually wide culture, made her the friend and chosen interpreter of the chief contemporary French composers from Debussy to Poulenc and of the poets Valéry and Claudel.